Sexual Respect & Title IX

Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

Under the leadership of
then-Senator Joe Biden, Congress recognized the severity of violence against
women and our need for a national strategy with the enactment of the Violence
Against Women Act in 1994. This landmark federal legislation’s comprehensive approach
to violence against women combined tough new provisions to hold offenders
accountable with programs to provide services for the victims of such violence.

VAWA has improved the criminal justice response to violence against women by:

holding rapists accountable
for their crimes by strengthening federal penalties for repeat sex offenders
and creating a federal “rape shield law,” which is intended to prevent
offenders from using victims’ past sexual conduct against them during a rape
trial;

mandating that victims, no
matter their income levels, are not forced to bear the expense of their own
rape exams or for service of a protection order;

keeping victims safe by
requiring that a victim’s protection order will be recognized and enforced in
all state, tribal, and territorial jurisdictions within the United States;

increasing rates of
prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of offenders by helping communities
develop dedicated law enforcement and prosecution units and domestic violence
dockets;

ensuring that police respond
to crisis calls and judges understand the realities of domestic and sexual
violence by training law enforcement officers, prosecutors, victim advocates
and judges; VAWA funds train over 500,000 law enforcement officers,
prosecutors, judges, and other personnel every year;

providing additional tools
for protecting women in Indian country by creating a new federal habitual
offender crime and authorizing warrantless arrest authority for federal law
enforcement officers who determine there is probable cause when responding to
domestic violence cases.

VAWA has ensured that victims & their families have access to the services they need to achieve safety and rebuild their lives by:

responding to urgent calls
for help by establishing the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which has
answered over 3 million calls and receives over 22,000 calls every month; 92%
of callers report that it’s their first call for help;

improving safety and reducing
recidivism by developing coordinated community responses that bring together
diverse stakeholders to work together to prevent and respond to violence
against women,

focusing attention on the
needs of underserved communities, including creating legal relief for battered
immigrants so that abusers cannot use the victim’s immigration status to
prevent victims from calling the police or seeking safety, and supporting
tribal governments in building their capacity to protect American Indian and
Alaska Native women.

VAWA has created positive change. Since VAWA was passed:

Fewer people are experiencing
domestic violence.

Between
1993 to 2010, the rate of intimate partner violence declined 67%;

Between
1993 to 2007, the rate of intimate partner homicides of females decreased 35%
and the rate of intimate partner homicides of males decreased 46%.

More victims are reporting
domestic and sexual violence to police, and reports to police are resulting in
more arrests.

States have reformed their
laws to take violence against women more seriously:

All
states have reformed laws that previously treated date or spousal rape as a
lesser crime than stranger rape;

All
states have passed laws making stalking a crime;

All
states have authorized warrantless arrests in misdemeanor domestic violence
cases where the responding officer determines that probable cause exists;

All
states provide for criminal sanctions for the violation of a civil protection
order;

Many
states have passed laws prohibiting polygraphing of rape victims;

Over 35
states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have adopted laws
addressing domestic and sexual violence, and stalking in the workplace. These
laws vary widely and may offer a victim time off from work to address the
violence in their lives, protect victims from employment discrimination related
to the violence, and/or provide unemployment insurance to survivors who must
leave their jobs because of the abuse.